Admiral Wu Shengli, China’s Navy Chief, this week caught Indian officials off guard by asking for an impromptu tour of the most sensitive nerve centre of the advanced Indian missile frigate, INS Shivalik, while on a brief courtesy call on the visiting ship.
The Shivalik arrived at this eastern port city, which is the base of the PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) North Sea Fleet, on Sunday to take part in exercises on Wednesday to mark the Chinese Navy’s 65th anniversary.
Indian officials told Admiral Wu that the ship’s operations room — the Combat Information Centre — was among the Indian Navy’s most advanced and was kept locked when the frigate was docked at harbour. Under standard operating procedures, it cannot be opened without exception.
The Admiral’s request surprised Indian officials as navy officials usually follow an unwritten protocol for visiting ships and refrain from asking to see areas regarded as sensitive. That the request came amid a goodwill visit aimed at boosting trust put officials in an awkward situation: they did not want any incident casting a shadow on maritime exercises that were described as positive and the most high-level ever between the navies.
Fortunately, sources said, the frigate’s Commanding Officer, the experienced Captain Puruvir Das, deftly handled the situation. He stood his ground and told the Admiral that operating procedures meant that the CIC had to remain closed at harbour with no exceptions, but told him that he would be welcome to visit the ship at sea during exercises, an unlikely prospect for China’s Navy Chief.
Notwithstanding the Admiral’s unexpected request, officials said the Shivalik visit would go a long way in boosting trust between the navies. Captain Das said “the exercises went very well,” but did not comment on Admiral Wu’s request. “There were no problems, despite the language barrier,” he said. “This was the highest engagement we have had so far with the Chinese Navy. But we do not want to stop at this and every year the level should go higher and higher.”
Mock hijack
In a three-way exercise involving China and Indonesia simulating an anti-hijack operation, the Shivalik deployed its Chetak helicopter as its crew raided the “hijacked” vessel.
The drill was the most advanced of three different exercises held on Wednesday. Seven countries were invited by China for the drills, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore and Brunei. The drill marked a rare instance of Indian and Pakistani ships at the same exercises, although they did not come into contact as they were involved in different drills.

Comments: This is a real samjhota between the two navies._________________Sabya99

Earlier this year, India’s first indigenously built nuclear submarine quietly pushed out of its base for sea trials, its 6,000-tonne, 111-metre bulk powered by an 83-megawatt uranium reactor. The submarine is capable of lurking effectively undetectable at depth almost indefinitely, as long as there is food for its 110-man crew. In early 2015, if all goes well, INS Arihant will get the nuclear missiles it is designed to carry.
India will join a club of just six nations with nuclear submarines carrying ballistic missiles — and a doctrinal headache.
For more than a decade now, India has kept warheads separate from the missiles that carry them, in an effort to prevent accidents. In times of crisis — like the 2001-02 standoff with Pakistan — delivery platforms and warheads have been brought together, but by some accounts, even then, they were not mated or joined together for delivery.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed on classified reports calling for a full-time four-star General to take charge of India’s nuclear arsenal — and the case of Arihant explains why.
Nuclear challenge
Last week, Mr. Modi received the most secret briefing he would get — on his role as head of the Nuclear Command Authority, which is empowered to order the nuclear missiles on the Arihant, along with other weapons in the strategic arsenal, to be fired. Mr. Modi, government sources say, was briefed on progress in the submarine tests, as well as the status of the missiles that will arm it.
In March, the Defence Research and Development Organisation conducted the first test of the K-4 missile —capable of delivering a two-tonne nuclear warhead on targets up to 3,000 kilometres away.
Fitted four apiece on to the three nuclear submarines India plans to operate, K-4 will ensure that the country has what experts call an assured second-strike capability — the capacity to ensure retaliation even if the rest of the arsenal is wiped out in a surprise first-strike.
India’s nuclear arsenal, as that of Pakistan, has been physically separated from the delivery platforms — the missiles controlled by the Army, and soon the Navy, as well as the Air Force’s combat jets. The logic is simple: keeping warheads and missiles apart reduces the risks of accidents or unauthorised use.
“For obvious reasons,” says Arun Vishwanathan, a leading nuclear-weapons expert at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, “a nuclear submarine is going to have to carry warheads as well as missiles. This raises significant issues of control, which need to be worked out.”
In addition, nuclear submarines can lose contact with their bases — and officers must decide if this has happened because of technical problems, or because their nation has been obliterated. In 1961, the Soviet submarine B-59, believing that war had broken out, almost fired a 10-kilotonne warhead at the U.S. Flotilla; sub-commander Vasili Arkhipov, one of three officers who had to consent to the decision, alone demurred — averting a nuclear apocalypse.
There are also risks of accidents involving nuclear weapons on board ships and submarines: dozens of warheads ended up at the bottom of the sea during the Cold War, and though technology has improved, it is not fail-safe._________________Sabya99

Five months after the salvors were appointed, the ill-fated Russian-made Kilo-class Indian Navy Submarine Sindhurakshak has been raised out of the water.

An explosion onboard Sindhurakshak on August 14 last year had resulted in the death of 18 Navy personnel. Navy officials said the submarine may not be seaworthy, even after refits.

"The salvors have lifted the submarine and it is currently resting on a pontoon and will be soon anchored on the dry dock of the Naval Dockyard," said a Navy official.

"We doubt that (if) it may be seaworthy after all the refits as fire was caused because of explosion of many missiles and torpedos and it would have damaged the hulk and the decommissioning seems to be imminent," the official said.
Indian arm of US-based M/S Resolve Marine won the contract to salvage the submarine in January. A 160-days deadline was set for it to complete the job. The senior Navy official also said that once the submarine is handed over to the Navy, it will be subjected to two sets of tests.

"The first test is to ascertain the cause of the accident and the other to decide the nature of the work to be undertaken to make it seaworthy," the official said.

Navy officials also said that though a Board of Inquiry was conducted and an interim report was submitted detailing out six probable causes of the accident, another study will be conducted by the same Rear-Admiral level officer who conducted the earlier inquiry.

"The Naval Dockyard will conduct a probe to decide the submarine's seaworthiness and will see if any refits are to be undertaken or if it should be decommissioned. The cost incurred in the repairs will also be studied," said an officer.

The officials also said that a sonography of the hulk of the submarine will be conducted to determine the extent of damage. The electric cables will be tested and a study will be also conducted on the extent of corrosion of the metal._________________Sabya99

KOLKATA: Vice Admiral Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee, the senior most submariner in the Indian Navy has taken over as commander-in-chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command (CINCAN). Originally from Kolkata, Chatterjee studied at the La Martiniere School for Boys till Class-VII before joining the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun.
"He passed out from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on January 1, 1977. He has commanded the Type-1500 submarines Shankush and Shankul, the latter of which he commissioned. His other ship commands include Training Ship INS Krishna and the guided missile destroyer INS Rajput. He has also been Commodore Commanding Submarines (West), Principal Director, Submarine Operations and Principal Director, Submarine Acquisition at Naval Headquarters," a senior official said.
Vice Admiral Chatterjee has also been the Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM), Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area (FOMAG) and Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS) before taking over as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. From that post, he took over as chief of the tri-services Andaman and Nicobar Command in June.
"The A&N Command is a strategic one and the Vice Admiral's experience will prove helpful in the days to come. Though a tri-services command, the Navy is the key element in ANC and his taking over will help in better co-ordination," the official added._________________Sabya99

New Delhi, July 11: An anti-submarine vessel that the government claims is the “first fully indigenously built major warship” is scheduled to slide off the rails in a dockyard in Calcutta tomorrow to be handed over to the navy.
The P28 Kamorta, an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette built by the Calcutta-headquartered defence public sector unit Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), will join the navy’s Vizag-based eastern fleet after it is commissioned on August 23.
The navy is also expected to commission the INS Kolkata destroyer, built at the Mazgaon docks in Mumbai, later this month.
The INS Kamorta is the first of four ASW corvettes built by the GRSE for Rs 7852.39 crore. The ships have been designed by the navy. Each is described as a “super-sophisticated frontline warship” with 90 per cent indigenous content.
INS Kamorta is also the first naval warship built in the country with special grade high-tensile steel produced by public sector unit SAIL. Sensors and weapons mounted on the hull have been made by Indian public and private enterprises, say navy sources.
“With a unique hull-form, stealth features, state-of-the-art weaponry and integrated systems, Kamorta is designed to operate in the multiple threat environment,” a statement from the shipbuilders said.
The Kamorta has taken eight years in the making since its keel was laid on November 20, 2006. It is 110m long and displaces about 3,400 tonnes with four diesel engines. It has a maximum speed of 25 knots. The ship carries an anti-submarine warfare helicopter. It will be manned by 13 officers and 176 sailors.
Its array of weapons includes heavy weight torpedoes, ASW rockets, 76mm medium range gun and two guns as close-in-weapon system (CIWS)._________________Sabya99

Aug. 26: The Indian Navy is working to revive a World War II airbase that was the British Royal Air Force’s (RAF) largest after Lahore in South Asia.
Bobbili, just north of Visakhapatnam, is part of a larger expansion plan of the navy that includes opening a base for conventional and nuclear assets south of Vizag, the chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Satish Soni, said in an interview.
“We are looking at Bobbili, where there is an old, disused airfield about 45 miles from here. We will have fighters flying from here so we will need an alternative base, to which flights can be diverted. Bobbili is north west of Vizag towards Vijaynagar,” Soni said.
Work to revive the Badangi air strip in Bobbili (Vizianagram district) that has two runways crossing each other has got a fillip after the navy received a “no-objection certificate” from the Andhra government.

The Eastern Naval Command was also last week sanctioned Rs 400 crore — Rs 200 crore each to build maintenance facilities at the naval air station INAS Dega in Vizag for its Advanced Jet Trainer Hawk and MiG29K fighter aircraft, Soni said.
The expansion of the eastern naval command and the establishment of new bases is driven not only by the “Look East Policy” — that for the navy translates into an ability to project power versus China in Asia — but also because the naval dockyards in the Eastern Naval Command headquarters have little or no space after the increase in the number of warships under it.
Soni explained that since INAS Dega was set to become a permanent second home for the naval fighter aircraft (after INAS Hansa in Goa), there was a need for diversionary airfields. The diversionary airfields that Dega has now are in Vijayawada (157 nautical miles or 290km), Bhubaneswar (212 nautical miles, or 392km), Shamshabad (near Hyderabad, 279 nautical miles or 516km).
“We are looking at something closer and Bobbili is about 45 nautical miles (around 83km). It would help us (if) God forbid there is a requirement to divert a fighter aircraft,” explained Soni.
Till it was closed in 1946, the Badangi airbase in Bobbili was equipped with underground armament depots and shelters for aircraft. The RAF used to fly Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters out of Bobbili during the War. The airbase was built in 1942-43.
Despite a no-objection certificate from the state government, however, the navy anticipates land acquisition issues because farmers have settled at the base (as encroachers). A Food Corporation of India facility and the farmers are reported to be using the runways, one measuring 6,000ft and the other 4,000ft for threshing grain.
The flag officer commanding the Eastern Naval Command outlined expansion projects that would necessitate the establishment of another base. The navy rarely admits officially the existence of Project Varsha, a base that is being built at Rambili, about 50km south of Vizag.
Admiral Soni too did not name Project Varsha but said a new facility to shelter not only strategic (nuclear) assets but conventional assets too “would take about seven to eight years”.
“We have 5.1km of jetty space (in the naval dockyards in Vizag). We are full up, it is not as if we have space to spare. We think we are short of docking. We are planning ship lifts, we have earmarked areas for it — there are going to be two ship lifts here in times to come... we have been managing well so far but we definitely need more space, more jetties, more harbours,” Soni said.
A ship-lift is a huge crane that lifts a ship out of the water and puts it into dry dock for maintenance and overhaul. The navy has just one in the country — at Karwar on the North Karnataka coast.
“We are going to have the IAC (indigenous aircraft carrier being built in Kochi) here. The LCAs (light combat aircraft) are coming in. There is a requirement of more aircraft to be based, with Dorniers, AJTs MiG-29Ks and LCAs. The requirements are going to increase and that is why we need another airfield,” Soni said, referring to Bobbili.
Project Varsha, which is coming up around the village of Rambili, too has land acquisition issues. On the drawing board, it will have facilities to harbour the INS Arihant-class nuclear submarines that are being built at the Ship Building Centre in Vizag.
Soni said network-centric operations of the navy have made creation of new bases and inter-operability between platforms over large areas of the Indian Ocean Region a necessity
Comments: Yes Vizag is too crowded. Its resources should be decentralized on other points on East coast._________________Sabya99

India’s first nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, which set out to the sea for trials in Visakhapatnam on Monday, will be ready for induction in about a year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
On speculations that India was negotiating the lease of a second nuclear submarine with Russia, he indicated that India was interested in getting another nuclear submarine for training purposes.
India had earlier acquired INS Chakra, an Akula class nuclear attack submarine, from Russia in 2012 on a 10-year lease. It has been an important platform for training personnel in handling India's own nuclear submarines in future.
Expressing confidence in the country’s ability to tackle crises situations like the Sydney Hostage episode, Mr. Parrikar said India’s preparedness has definitely improved.
Asked about the nation’s preparedness in the wake of the hostage situation in Sydney, he said: “I think we are improving and definitely much better than probably what we were in the earlier years. So, ultimately it comes with situation, each situation differs. But I think we are quite well prepared,” he told reporters.
Earlier, he paid homage at the Amar Jawan Jyoti here on the occasion of Vijay Diwas, commemorating the Liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971._________________Sabya99

Mumbai, Jan. 30: Sandeep Sinha, the Sindhuratna commander facing court martial, and the others have been made "scapegoats" as the fire was caused by "expired" batteries, officers at the Western Naval Command said today.

"These people came back from the jaws of death and now, they are being made the scapegoats as it is too tough for the bureaucrats in the defence ministry to accept that they messed up by forcing the navy to use expired batteries on its subs," said an officer.

The inquiry found the seven officers, including Commodore Commanding S.R. Kapoor, guilty of "dereliction of duty".

The charge against them: they mistook the first fire alarm for simulated alarms set off by an inspection team on the sub and did not take the alert seriously.

The moments lost in the process - though less than a minute according on some accounts - led to the tragedy, said the board of inquiry set up by the navy to investigate the accident.

Resentment was high today especially on the court martial ordered against Sinha, 41. "Sinha had commandeered the vessel for nearly two hours after the accident despite inhaling deadly gases that nearly killed him. It (the court martial announcement) has made the atmosphere at the naval command here very tense," said the officer.

Sinha had to be put on ventilator later along with some of the other officers who have been indicted by the inquiry.

It all began after the battery leak started a fire and poisonous extinguisher fumes filled two compartments of the Sindhuratna.

Sinha and some others rushed into Compartment Three of the sub after learning that two officers - Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal and Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar who died in the blaze - were trapped inside.

"Sinha had gone in to try to rescue them, not thinking once about of his own safety. But his heroic efforts failed to save the two juniors' lives," said a navy source.

Despite taking in the gases and fully aware that they could be fatal, Sinha manned the controls personally and brought the submarine to the surface. He then stood by till every sailor had climbed out and revived themselves.

"Sinha insisted he wouldn't leave till every person on board had done so. Then, after ensuring shutdown of the controls, he was the last to go," the source said.

Sinha was very ill but still refused to be air-lifted with the first lot of seven critically ill crew members.

"He agreed to go only when a ship came after three hours to evacuate 22 more sailors and officers. This worsened his condition," said the source who was on the board of inquiry that probed the accident.

Sinha is the son of a retired naval commander of the logistics directorate and the son-in-law of a retired rear admiral from the naval armament inspectorate.

The Sindhuratna, a Kilo-class submarine, was on a "Task 2" mission to check whether the refitted vessel was fit to be deployed at sea when the blaze broke out on February 26 last year.

Court martial for submarine blaze

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ( The Telegraph , Kolkata )

New Delhi, Jan. 30: A commodore and five other officers have been censured and a commanding officer is to face a court martial after the navy approved the punishments recommended by an investigation into the fire in a submarine last year.

Two officers were killed in the incident in the INS Sindhuratna off Mumbai on February 26, 2014. It led to the resignation of then navy chief Admiral D.K. Joshi.

Sources in the navy said the commanding officer of the submarine, Commander Sandeep Sinha, would have another chance to restate his case in the court martial.

The Commodore Commanding, S.R. Kapoor, was given a "Letter of Severe Displeasure". He was in the 26-year-old Sindhuratna that was being put through trials after a refit. A navy commodore is equivalent to an army brigadier.

A board of inquiry (BOI) had in November found the officers guilty of "various acts of omission and commission".

"The BOI has found seven officers culpable of various acts of omissions and commissions. Disciplinary action has been initiated at the Western Naval Command headquarters," defence minister Manohar Parrikar had told the Rajya Sabha in November.

The two officers killed in the fire, Lt Commander Kapish Muwal and Lt Manoranjan Kumar, were given gallantry awards posthumously. The probe pinned the cause of the fire on "human error".

The inquiry, headed by Rear Admiral Bokhare, investigated not only what went on inside the sub but also what went into it during its refit and checks before it went out to sea.

<5>The navy is yet to complete its probe into the sinking of another sub, the INS Sindhurakshak, in which 18 crew members died on August 14, 2013._________________Sabya99

Defence Minister undocks the first Scorpene-class submarine, the latest addition to the Indian Navy. Here's all you need to know about this behemoth.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Monday, said India will fulfil its requirement of submarines to protect the sea waters by 2022.
Mr. Parrikar was speaking at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) after commemorating the undocking of the first Scorpene-class submarine.
“We expect the rest of the constructions to be completed as per the schedule as in this case. Any delay in achieving the deadline will result in heavy penalty,” said Mr. Parrikar.
Acknowledging the efforts put in by MDL in construction of this partial indigenous submarine, Defence Minister said that his government has an ambitious plan to fulfil the requirements of the armed forces as per which all Public Sector Utilities will double their productions in next two years.
“We want to build a ‘Blue Water Navy’ which can survive deep ocean waters without any problems. We will ensure that we become one such navy,” he added.
Replying to the questions with respect to the growing anxiety around safety of submarines, many of which in the recent past have faced accidents, Mr. Parrikar claimed that the accidents were the results of not following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
“Majority of accidents are the result of relaxed attitude towards following SOPs. There would have been no accident had they would have acted as per SOP. Now, we have asked the staff to follow SOPs strictly and there will be no accidents,” said Mr. Parrikar.
Meanwhile, following the undocking of submarine on Monday, the launching of the submarine will take place on September 2015. Till September 2016, the submarine will undergo rigorous trials and tests, both in harbour and at sea, while on surface and while dived. These trials are designed to test each system to its fullest capacity. Thereafter she would be commissioned in to the Indian Navy as INS Kalvari.
At present all equipment has been installed in the submarine, with 95% cabling and piping also being completed. Pressure testing and commissioning of various systems of the submarine is presently in progress and would continue after the undocking of her from East Yard Dock._________________Sabya99

Calcutta, May 3: A central PSU in Calcutta has presented the navy with a blueprint to build submarines in the Hooghly.
Buoyed by a Rs 20,000-crore order from the Centre to build three stealth frigates called the P17A, defence public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has said in the blueprint that it will build a yard in the resort town of Raichak, set on a bend in the river 50km south of Calcutta.
A workshop, a dry dock, an assembly and fitting-out jetty, and a "slipway" in Raichak will launch the submarines into the Hooghly's waters before they sail out to sea.
The part of Raichak where the yard has been planned has a draft, or depth, estimated at eight to 10 metres, which will allow the boats to be built, the GRSE chairman and managing director, Rear Admiral (retired) A.K. Verma, told The Telegraph. The boats will be built under the navy's Rs 60,000-crore Project 75 India (P75i).
The Hooghly is largely non-navigable for vessels requiring great depths because of silt as well as berms on the riverbed that often emerge at low tide.
In February this year, GRSE presented the blueprint to an eight-member committee headed by the navy's Controller of Warship Production and Acquisitions, Vice-Admiral Ashok Subhedar. The Subhedar committee had been tasked to recommend which Indian shipyard(s) should be considered for the P75i programme.
The P75i is India's biggest military acquisitions programme, estimated to cost Rs 60,000 crore. Last October, the government decreed that all six submarines in the project should be built in India.
The selected Indian yard(s) would be expected to tie up with one of six global submarine majors: DCNS of France, Rubin Amur (Russia), Navantia (Spain), Thyssenkrupp or HDW (Germany), Kockums (Sweden), and Soryu (Kawasaki, Japan). The Subhedar committee is yet to submit its recommendations.
GRSE was initially ruled out because the Hooghly is not known to allow a draft of more than four to five metres at best.
But GRSE convinced the government to take a serious look at its capabilities after delivering two major warships - the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) stealth corvette INS Kamorta and the Barracuda offshore patrol vessel, India's first warship export (to Mauritius) - in time last year. It also disclosed its plans for Raichak.
A Telegraph team that was given a guided tour of GRSE's restricted-access facilities saw two more ASW corvettes of the P28 Kamorta class being readied for deliveries to the navy at the fitting-out jetty and the main yard, and an amphibious ship, which can beach with troops and armoured vehicles, at a dry dock that slopes into the Hooghly.
Towering above the yards was a Goliath crane, recently built as part of a Rs 600-crore modernisation programme.
"With the technology available today, any yard that can build a warship can build a submarine," GRSE chief Verma said.
"We have just got a Rs 20,000-crore contract for three P17A (stealth frigate) ships that will go on for ten years, and we are transiting from a medium-level shipyard to a major builder capable of meeting international standards - witness our export."
For the submarine-building programme, GRSE is in competition with Mazagon Docks (Mumbai), Goa Shipyard, Hindustan Shipyard (all under the defence ministry), Cochin Shipyard (under the shipping ministry), Pipavav and Larsen & Toubro (both in the private sector).
Only Mazagon Docks and L&T have some experience with submarine-building. French firm DCNS is building six Scorpene submarines at Mazagon Docks; L&T has supplied the hulls for India's Arihant-class nuclear submarines.
In Raichak, the defence shipyard has acquired 100 acres. It is also in talks with the Odisha government to acquire land at Dhamra in Bhadrak district. Verma says the modular design of shipbuilding will allow submarines to be built block by block and integrated in Raichak.
For the Kamorta class, which requires the fitment of underwater sonar (submarine-detection equipment), the yard takes the ship to Visakhapatnam.
A warship-overseeing team from the navy monitors each stage of the shipbuilding process. Its offices are by jetties on the east bank of the Hooghly, concealed by high walls and the dirt and grime and heavy trucks that trundle through the Calcutta suburb's broken roads.
In Raichak, GRSE has planned a workshop for the manufacture of blocks up to 200 tonnes each that would be lowered to the jetties for assembly. The assembled boat would then be taken to a slipway to be launched into the water.
The Calcutta-based defence firm --- which built India's first warship, the INS Ajay, in 1961 --- is also looking at a Rs 2,000-crore order for "midget submarines" (also called "human torpedoes" or "chariots") that the Centre is trying as an experiment in Visakhapatnam. This is part of a 45-year-old navy programme that was recently revived

Comment: In Soviet Union parts of submarines were built in towns away from large ports, then transported to assembly area located on a large docks on Baltic/North sea coasts. The entire assembly ,fabrication and testing used to take place on these docks under the watchful eyes of Red Navy.GRSE could follow the same model, after all it has lot of experience in warship building!_________________Sabya99

NEW DELHI: India will finally get a desperately-needed shot in the arm for its depleting underwater combat fleet. With INS Sindhukirti set for final "full-power trials" from Friday after being stuck in a refit for a decade, the Kilo-class submarine is expected to be formally handed over to the Navy next month.

The 3,000-tonne INS Sindhukirti's re-induction into the fleet is vital since the Navy is down to just 13 old diesel-electric submarines - barely half of them fully operational at present -- and one nuclear-powered submarine without nuclear-tipped missiles on lease from Russia.

A submarine's design or "prescribed life" is considered to be 25 years. But 10 of the 13 conventional boats are already older than that, with the others not being far behind. INS Sindhurakshak, which sank after internal explosions at Mumbai naval dockyard in August 2013 killing 18 personnel, was in fact one of the relatively newer submarines.

As reported by TOI earlier, the medium refit of the 25-year-old INS Sindhukirti, which was to be completed within three years, itself is a shocking story. Gross mismanagement, coupled with alleged perfidy by Russian experts, ensured the submarine remained stuck at Hindustan Shipyard (Visakhapatnam) since early 2006.

But the submarine is "as good as new" now, with hull renewal as well as new weapons, sonars, fire control systems and the like. The vessel will now also be capable of firing the almost 300-km Klub-S land-attack missiles from the six torpedo tubes fitted on its "nose". "The full-power trials, after the successful sea-trials, are meant to test the submarine to the extreme," said a source.

The NDA government, however, does not seem to be showing the requisite urgency to rescue the sinking submarine arm, much like the previous UPA regime. The tender for construction of six new stealth submarines with foreign collaboration, under Project-75India, is still nowhere close to being issued, said sources.

Once it is floated, it will take at least a decade to build the new submarines, which are supposed to have both land-attack missile capabilities and air-independent propulsion for greater underwater endurance. Project-75I gained "acceptance of necessity" way back in November 2007 at an estimated cost of around Rs 50,000 crore. The figure will now touch Rs 80,000 crore.

The six Scorpene submarines being constructed at Mazagon Docks are now finally slated for delivery from 2016 to 2020. But they will just replace the existing submarines, which are being flogged well past their operational life through life-extensions and upgrades.

Incidentally, four Sindhughosh-class and two Shishumar-class submarines are now slated to undergo mid-life upgrades and life extensions for Rs 4,800 crore, which was approved in August last year. Two of the Sindhughosh-class vessels will be upgraded in Russia, while the other four will undergo it in India._________________Sabya99

India's first nuclear-powered submarine Arihant is likely to carry out its missile tests this winter so that the submarine becomes ready for operational use early next year.

“The tests held so far has been successful. In October, we will fire Nirbhay missile from the submarine which will be followed by firing of another type of missile,” defence ministry sources said.

While Nirbhay is a 1000-km-long range subsonic cruise missile, the next missile would be India's first Subamrine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM), which has a range of about 700 km. The SLBM was successfully test fired in 2013 from an under-water platform – more than a year before Arihant left for its sea trial in December, 2014.

Though the DRDO did not disclose the SLBM's range after the test, there were reports that defence scientists were developing two SLBMs – one with a range of about 700 km (K-15) and a second one whose range is upwards of 3000 km (K-4). The plan now is to ready the submarine for operational use for Indian Navy during the International Fleet Review scheduled in February, 2016.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1151101/jsp/nation/story_50866.jsp#.VjYDAq4qzTo
New Delhi, Oct. 31: India is in talks with Russia to lease a second nuclear submarine for 10 years.
The K-322 Kashalot is a 27-year-old boat in the same class as the Nerpa - now called the INS Chakra - that is in the service of the Indian Navy on a lease.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who left for Moscow for annual talks with his counterpart Sergey Shoigu, is expected to clinch the deal. But an official announcement on the nuclear submarine would be a rarity since New Delhi and Moscow do not publicly disclose the full extent of the strategic partnership.
"They (projects) may not take final shape during my visit but we would like to prepare some of them for Narendra Modi's visit to Russia in December," Parrikar told the Russian news agency, Tass, before his departure.
Among the projects that may be signed is a joint production facility in India for Kamov Ka-226 helicopters. New Delhi also proposes to buy an unspecified number of S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.
"Then there are Mi-17V-5 helicopters, which we also intend to negotiate and finalise procurement for 48 more. With that, we will have some 280 Mi-17 helicopters," Parrikar said.
For the nuclear submarine, India will most likely pay Russia upfront to refurbish the 8,140-tonne boat. It is currently being repaired. The refurbishment could take up to three years.
This would be the third time that India would lease a nuclear-powered attack submarine from Russia. The Indian Navy's submarine fleet is ageing and has been depleted since the INS Sindhurakshak sank in August 2013.
The first of six conventional diesel-electric submarines, being built with the French at Mumbai, was floated this week.
Comment: A good move considering more Arihaunt class SSBN are on the way to join the fleet in coming days._________________Sabya99

New Delhi, Aug. 24: Tiger Shark is on WhatsApp today. It should have been under water.
India's latest submarine programme, with all its secrets about stealth, is circulating on social media. This is after a newspaper in Australia, called The Australian, claimed it had accessed 22,400 pages of technical literature, manuals, presentations and specifications on the Scorpene submarine project.
The first of six Scorpene submarines is set to be commissioned as the INS Kalvari (Tiger Shark) next month.
The literature is from DCNS and Thales, companies headquartered in France. The companies are in the business of manufacturing and supplying military platforms. They have recently won a contract from Australia to make submarines. They won the contract after beating competition from companies in Japan and Germany.
India's Scorpene submarines are being built in the yards of Mazgaon Docks, a defence public sector unit, in Mumbai.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar today summoned the navy chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba, and senior officers to be briefed on the programme and the leak of data. The submarines were contracted in 2004 during the UPA I regime when the defence minister was Pranab Mukherjee.
At the time, the Scorpene contract was advertised as the first with an "integrity pact". The integrity pact, the then defence minister had said, will ensure there is no bribery in the deal and that it will not be compromised in any manner.
Today, however, the technical specifications of the submarine - its size, speed and, what is the most delicate of its issues, its noise, and some of its radio and sonar signatures, frequencies at which they may operate - have been circulating on social media.
At face value, this compromises the security of what is supposed to be India's most modern stealthy weapon.
"Negative," says Adm. Vishnu Bhagwat, the former navy chief. "When, how and where you deploy and operate submarines is up to you and all this data leak means nothing because the information is available publicly anyway."
Ironically, Bhagwat, who was dismissed by the then defence minister, George Fernandes, in the Vajpayee government and reinstated to his rank by the court, had argued against the proposal to build the Scorpene class of submarines.
"That was one of the reasons (for the action that Fernandes took against me). But you need to understand two things: why submarines are important and how decisions are taken," Bhagwat said, and went on to explain.
In the tropical waters around India's coasts, said Bhagwat, the laws of physics favour the use of submarines. "The total internal reflection of sound when there are thermal layers between 32 degrees and 24 degrees makes it virtually impossible for a submarine to be detected if it is 30 to 50 metres under the surface in summers and 100 metres in winters," he said.
"Not by satellites, not by surface platforms (such as ships) and not by aircraft. In Indian waters, submarines defy both surveillance and detection," he said.
It is important to record these words from the admiral because he is speaking like a professional soldier-sailor despite having been at bitter odds with a former BJP-led dispensation.
But there is a thrillomania with the details of the Scorpene, or Kalvari-class. The INS Kalvari (all vessels of the same type are categorised after the name of the first in the class) is scheduled to be commissioned next month, possibly on the 17th. The entire project is four years behind schedule.
To complicate matters, Ravi Shankaran, sacked as a lieutenant in the navy, has filed a complaint with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking why the Scorpene project should not be scrapped. Shankaran, who is absconding and was last known to be in London, is a nephew-in-law of former navy chief Adm. Arun Prakash.
Adm. Prakash lives in a modest home in Goa now. "Somebody needs to get hold of the papers and analyse them. 'Restricted' is the lowest form of classification. I do not really know the details of the issue," he said when contacted by The Telegraph.
Much of the documentation - some of which has been read by this correspondent (it is impossible to read all 22,400 pages in one day) - is marked "restricted" by the manufacturers Thales and DCNS.
At the same time, the disclosure of such information that is not generally made public by militaries is in itself alarming. One submariner said: "If you have my mobile number, it won't take you long to find out where I am. The number is now in the open. But we can play with time and space."
The Indian Navy has run into controversy in recent years principally because of problems in its submarine fleet. India now has 10 operational submarines. In 1998, when Adm. Bhagwat helmed a 30-year submarine building programme, it was envisaged that the Indian Navy would have 20 by 2014.
In that year, sailors died when a submarine was being tested after a refit. India suffered its biggest peacetime loss of war machinery on August 14, when the INS Sindhurakshak submarine sank in the naval dockyard in Mumbai after its weapons chamber blew up killing 18 crew. The then navy chief, Adm. D.K. Joshi, quit halfway through his tenure.
The submarine acquisition issue continues to dog the navy and the country even today. One of the first decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government in 2014, when Arun Jaitley was defence minister (he has since moved on) and Adm. Robin Dhowan was navy chief, was to approve through the Defence Acquisitions Council a multi-billion dollar upgrade of the navy's Russian-origin (Kilo-class) submarines.
Even the navy was divided on whether such an upgrade was warranted for life-expired platforms. But so dire was the operational requirement that the DAC approved the programme, largely because the Scorpene project was delayed.
The leak of data has shaken both the defence minister and the Prime Minister, none of who is a military professional. But the understanding that has reached New Delhi from Sydney is that the Oz media has been taken in with corporate rivalry.
That does not absolve the French who make submarines for both India (the Scorpene) and Pakistan (the Agosta).
In a statement late this evening, the French company DCNS said it was aware of reports on the data leak. "This serious matter is (being) thoroughly investigated by the proper French national authorities for defence security. This investigation will determine the exact nature of the leaked documents, the potential damages to DCNS customers as well as the responsibilities for this leakage."
The data leak from the French firm comes at a time when the Modi government says it is close to signing a contract with France for 36 Rafale fighter aircraft estimated to be upwards of Euro 7 billion.
When it was contracted, the Scorpene submarine programme was estimated to be Rs 24,000 crore. The French escalated the price after that and India, too, entered into separate contracts for weapons and spares for 20 years.

New Delhi, Nov. 18: The India-Pakistan brinkmanship so far marked by mortar shelling on the Line of Control today entered the Arabian Sea with Pakistan claiming that it had found and "chased away" an Indian submarine from its waters.
"It is a blatant lie. Our boats are not in Pakistan's territorial waters," said the Indian Navy spokesperson, Captain D.K. Sharma.
In a media statement, the Pakistan Navy claimed the Indian submarine tried to enter its waters on November 14.
A country's territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles (about 22.2km) from its coastline. The India-Pakistan international maritime boundary line is not clearly defined because of a dispute in Sir Creek, Gujarat.
The Pakistan Navy has released footage that had been playing on Pakistani news channels. The footage is in black and white and was probably taken through a night vision-enabled camera. The grainy pictures show what looks like the mast of a submarine with three sensors above the surface as the boat cuts through the water.
One Pakistani news channel quoting Pakistan Navy sources claimed on its website (samaa.tv) that it was an Indian nuclear-powered submarine.
The Indian Navy is known to operate one nuclear-powered submarine, the INS Chakra, leased from Russia. The status of India's home-built Arihant SSBN has not been made public. Last known, it was in sea trials till August this year.
Being detected and tracked is a submariner's nightmare. The very purpose of a navy to acquire submarines is to enhance its capability to operate stealthily.
"The Indian Navy, in order to fulfil its nefarious designs, was deploying submarines. The Pakistan Navy, alert and using its extreme skill, prevented Indian submarines from entering Pakistani waters," the Pakistan Navy spokesperson said in a statement, reported Pakistan's Dunyanews TV.
The Pakistan Navy's claim follows a claim made by Pakistan army chief, General Raheel Sharief, earlier this week that at least 11 Indian soldiers had been killed in firing across the LoC. On Monday, Pakistan admitted that seven of its soldiers were killed in firing by Indian troops.
General Sharief is scheduled to retire by the end of this month.
Comment: Who would use a nuke sub in coastal water. It is too shallow, could be easily detected._________________Sabya99

New Delhi, Dec. 26: India today test-fired its inter-continental ballistic missile, Agni 5, for its full range of 5,000-plus kilometres, defence scientists said, and claimed it was a success.
The 17-metre-long Agni 5 is being developed as India's strategic deterrent - to be used in pursuance of its "no first strike" policy that itself may be reviewed.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said in a statement that the missile was fired from Dr Abdul Kalam Island - earlier known as Wheeler Island - on the Odisha coast. It was launched from a canister on a road mobile launcher. The three-stage solid-fuel powered rocket splashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean after a 20-minute flight.
The DRDO said all radars, tracking systems and range stations monitored the flight.
"The full range test-flight of the missile has further boosted the indigenous missile capabilities and deterrence level of the country," said the DRDO statement.
This was the fourth test of the Agni 5 - the second one from a canister on a road mobile launcher, probably a multi-wheeled flatbed truck.
Sources in the DRDO said the missile was capable of bringing most targets in China and beyond within its range when fired from launch base deep in the Indian hinterland.
DRDO sources said the missile was now "user-deliverable". This probably means that the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which is the custodian of nuclear assets, can take possession of the missile. It would take more "user-trials" for the missile to be fully operational by the SFC.
The Agni 5 can carry a nuclear warhead of a tonne. The tests are done with a payload of the same weight. The first test was in April 2012.
"Successful test-firing of Agni V makes every Indian very proud. It will add tremendous strength to our strategic defence," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted shortly after the test-firing and before an official announcement from the DRDO.
President Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister Manohar Parrikar also congratulated the scientists.
The Agni 5 is the longest-range missile being developed by the DRDO. The others in the Agni series have ranges of 700km (Agni 1), 2000km (Agni 2), 2500km-3500 km (Agni 3 and Agni 4).
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1161227/jsp/nation/story_127036.jsp#.WGGvo9QrLGg_________________Sabya99

Khanderi, the second Kalvari class submarine, will be launched at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) here on January 12.

Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre will preside over the function to initiate the launch of Khanderi (Yard 11876).

The launch will start a trail of events, which will lead to the separation of the submarine from the pontoon on which it is being assembled and its final setting afloat, an official release said.

"India is among few countries in the world which produces conventional submarines. Six submarines are being built at MDL in collaboration with M/s DCNS of France, as a part of Project 75 of Indian Navy. The first submarine of the class (Kalvari) is completing its sea trials and will be commissioned shortly into the Indian Navy," the release said.

Indian Navy's Submarine arm will complete 50 years on December 8 this year. Submarine Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the birth of the submarine arm with induction of the first submarine, erstwhile INS Kalvari, into the Indian Navy on December 8, 1967, it said.

India joined the exclusive group of submarine constructing nations on February 7, 1992, with the commissioning of the first Indian-built submarine, INS Shalki.

MDL built this submarine and went on to commission another submarine, INS Shankul on May 28, 1994. These submarines are still in service today.

Khanderi is named after the Island fort of Maratha forces, which played a vital role in ensuring their supremacy at sea in the late 17th century, the release said.

The state-of-the-art features of this Scorpene class submarine includes superior stealth and the ability to launch a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons.

The attack can be launched with torpedoes, as well as tube-launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on surface. The Stealth features will give it an invulnerability, unmatched by many submarines.

The submarine is designed to operate in all theatres, including the tropics. All means and communications are provided to ensure interoperability with other components of a Naval Task Force.

It is built according to the principle of Modular Construction, which involves dividing the submarine into a number of sections and outfitting them concurrently.

The equipment is mounted in a special manner and then embarked into the sections. The complexity of the task increases exponentially as it involves laying kilometres of cabling and piping in extremely congested compartments.

All equipment has been installed in the submarine, with 95 percent cabling and piping also being completed.

Pressure testing, setting-to-work and commissioning of various systems of the submarine is presently in progress, and would continue after the launching of the submarine, the release said.

The important safety milestone of vacuum-testing was completed in the first attempt itself, and within a single day on January 5. This matched the record of 'Kalvari', which also completed the Vacuum Test in one go.

Till December, the submarine will undergo rigorous trials and tests, both in harbour and at sea, while on surface and whilst dived.

These trials are designed to test each system to its fullest capacity. Thereafter, she would to be commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Khanderi.

This would be preceded by the commissioning of Kalvari later this year. The other four submarines will follow in the wake of Khanderi at intervals of nine months.

As per tradition, ships and submarines of the Navy, are brought alive again after decommissioning. The first Khanderi was commissioned into the Navy on December 6, 1968 and decommissioned on October 18, 1989.

The launching, and subsequent commissioning of Khanderi, marks a generational shift in technology, it said._________________Sabya99

Navy successfully test-fires anti-ship missile from Kalvari submarine
PTI | Mar 2, 2017, 05.12 PM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
• Navy on Thursday successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile for the first time from an indigenously built Kalvari class submarine
• These missiles will provide the vessels the ability to neutralise surface threats at extended ranges
INS Kalvari. (TOi file photo)
NEW DELHI: The Navy on Thursday successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile for the first time from an indigenously built Kalvari class submarine.

The Navy described the launch as a significant milestone in enhancing its "sub-surface" warfare prowess.

The weapon was fired from the submarine, the first of India's six Scorpene-class submarines which are being built under the Project 75, and it "successfully hit" a surface target during the trial in the Arabian Sea.

All the six diesel-electric attack submarines will be equipped with the anti-ship missile, which has a proven record in combat, the defence ministry said.

These missiles will provide the vessels the ability to neutralise surface threats at extended ranges.

"The missile successfully hit a surface target at an extended range during the trial firing. This missile launch is a significant milestone, not only for the Kalvari, which is the first in a series of Scorpene class submarines being built in India, but also in enhancing the Indian Navy's sub-surface warfare capability," the ministry said.

The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built by Mazagon Dock Limitedin Mumbai_________________Sabya99